


Beloved Imperfections

by Kit



Category: Obernewtyn Chronicles - Isobelle Carmody
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-08-22
Updated: 2011-08-22
Packaged: 2017-10-22 22:30:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 731
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/243295
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kit/pseuds/Kit
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Darga returns, and the implications of Elspeth's secret quest wreck havoc amongst the Empaths at Obernewtyn. An old fic, written pre-Stone Key, but I'm still fond of it. Dameon/Elspeth.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Beloved Imperfections

Of course, the dog was the end of everything.

It was the youngest of the Empath novices who first gave any sign of what lay beneath the still, pale faces of the Master of Obernewtyn and his bondmate. Tears, there were, and night terrors; the result of imperfect shields buckling under the onslaught of festering wounds and naked, gibbering anguish. One by one, they crumpled, until even the Ward took to his bed. It infected dreams, and slid away from healing probes.

On the farms, every animal-nerve quivered. Expectant and silent as the small, mismatched canine, once raised by the boy Jik, trailed the Farseeker Guildmistress.

***

"When do you leave?"

Elspeth whirled around unsteadily, facing the familiar man and voice. "Dameon," she said.

"You _are_ leaving." It was not a question. The blind Empath Guildmaster gently grasped the smaller woman's forearms, his well-modulated voice faint.

"I must."

"Of course you must. You are at the centre of things."

Elspeth flinched. “That…that was cruel." She was stunned, even more so by the waves of remorse that were then projected towards her, gently crossing the shield she had felt in him for years.

"I am sorry," he said, face turned towards her, words oddly stilted, and Elspeth had to smile—it was only faint, but she knew he could feel it.

" _You_ don't need to tell me that."

"You should tell him."

The smile vanished. "I can't. I need you to understand—"

"—Elspeth. I do."

"Then why can't _he_ —?"

"—Because I am not Rushton and the pain will kill him."

Elspeth jerked back, breaking contact, but did not step away when Dameon reached out a long hand to touch her cheek.

"My dear girl, I know."

The woman laughed, shuddering and acutely aware of the edge of his palm against the corner of her mouth. "I don't know how you can, with your shield up."

"I will not share his fate, or that of my novices."

Elspeth blinked, bewildered. "Dameon?"

He laughed now, but it was mirthless. "Truly, Elspeth, you do not know how you hurt them." His hand lingered at her face.

Elspeth sighed, hearing her own breathing, and his, and the dog’s. Darga was a small, solid weight against her ankle, and had never said a word.  "I will leave soon,” she said, heavy with it.  “And I will have something to tell Rushton."

"Something."

The two stood silent, Elspeth shivering slightly, Dameon utterly still. Slow tears began to build in her eyes, kept in check through a clenched jaw and savage blinks. "You promised you'd never leave me again, and now it is I who will leave," she said at last, voice raw.

"My dar…Elspeth," he murmured, serious. "I could not have it any other way for you."

Hesitant, still bewildered, the woman reached up to brush the top of his cheek with a finger. "You're… crying?"

He gave her a brilliant smile. It was the sort that could be a warm gift in itself, except that, as it grew, a shield dissolved. It was tentative at first, slow and deliberate, but she felt is it collapse under its own weight, old dust in the wind.  And it left Elspeth gasping under the weight of the thousand emotions that enveloped her—loving and despairing and infinitely subtle and yet somehow immense _all at once_. Patience, pain and sheer truth that overwhelmed insidious flickerings of jealousy and shame that had crept to the edges.

Only there _were_ no edges. His love was vast, and she was laid open to it, just as she knew Dameon was now open to her, and that what he would find would hurt him, even though somehow a part of her could only feel joy, in spite of Rushton. In spite of everything.

“ _Please_.”

The wall was rebuilt with fluid ease, leaving Elspeth somehow in the circle of his arms. "I'm sorry," she whispered.

"Shush. Now you _know_ I know."

"I…"

"Enough."

Unerring as always, he leant down and kissed her. His tears brushed her face.

"We will not," he said tenderly, pulling back from her unresisting form until his forehead was against hers, "See each other again unchanged, I think."

Dameon drew back and away, leaving Elspeth mute and still in the doorway of her tower room, a dog at her feet and warmth on her lips.

The Guildmaster's steps faded away.

"Farewell."


End file.
